Canadian diesel has hit levels farmers have not seen before, and it has done so at harvest, when the fuel is the one input that gets the crop off the field. The national average reached C$2.50 a litre on 13 September, according to GasBuddy analyst Patrick De Haan, and Dan McTeague of Canadians for Affordable Energy told CTV News Channel on 12 September that prices have risen almost everywhere and could stay high for close to nine months.

Farms.com worked out what that means at the pump. A John Deere S780 with a 1,250-litre tank costs C$3,125 to fill at today's price, against C$1,750 in 2021, C$1,187 in 2016 and C$1,625 in 2011. A Case IH AF11 holding 1,500 litres costs C$3,750, up from C$2,100 five years ago, and a Gleaner T Series with an 871-litre tank costs C$2,177, compared with C$1,219 in 2021.

Kate Sauser, policy manager at Grain Growers of Canada, ran the numbers for a whole harvest. Taking a Class 7-8 combine over a 30-day harvest, she calculates that farmers are paying C$15,120 more in fuel this year than in 2025, and that is for one machine, before trucks, grain carts or grain drying. "What I found is very alarming," she wrote on X. "These rising fuel costs need to end."

There is no electric or hybrid escape route yet: none of the major manufacturers sells an electric combine. The one on offer is the Moonstone from the French company Terafield, rated at about 340 horsepower and able to cover up to 74 acres on a battery charge.

Diego Flammini reported the story for Farms.com.

Photo: Trekphiler / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)

Source: Farms.com